Next chapter should be up tomorrow.
Chapter Seventy Four - Revelations
The next morning, I awoke with shaking.
Once again.
This seems to be a common occurrence on my birthday.
"Ellie-nee. Up," Yukino said, shaking my shoulder.
I yawned, sitting up slowly. "Good morning, Yukino. What is it?"
She frowned. "Lushi-nee say to pwetty up."
Yukino was three years old, and she had originally been a bit behind when it came to certain vocabulary, probably because of where she grew up. Levy and Freed were working on catching her up, but she still preferred to be rather quiet (compared to say, Hisui, who is younger but also extremely vocal).
I frowned; even if she herself didn't wake me up, Lucy still wanted me to dress up for my birthday. "Lucy told you that I should be pretty?"
Yukino nodded.
"Did she tell you to wake me up and make sure I look nice?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
Yukino nodded eagerly.
I sighed.
"Alright, let's see what I can do," I said, walking over to the closet and pulling out some dresses. I held them up. "Which one should I wear?"
Yukino thought, thinking, before pointing at one. "Siver."
"Silver?" I asked, blinking, before I reached deeper into my closet and pulled out the one she had spotted. It was completely unfamiliar to me.
I read the tag on it.
Happy Birthday, Elle! - Love, Layla
I sighed, shaking my head, but was unable to hide my smile.
It might seem odd - probably because of my age - but the way that Layla took care of me made me wonder if this was what 'being away from home' was like - still living on my own, but still having parents.
I turned to Yukino and ruffled her hair a bit. "You've got a good eye."
"Fank you," she said, hugging me from the side a bit.
I giggled. "Now, I need to get changed, or Lucy-nee will get mad at us, right?"
Yukino nodded, with all the seriousness a three-year-old could muster, and I smiled and started changing into the dress, which was a pretty silver color, but would shimmer a lighter version of the color of my eyes as the light hit it, and had a pretty tie around the waist that was a purple shade that matched my hair.
"How do I look?" I asked Yukino.
She smiled, lifting her arms up. "Pwetty!"
I pulled her up and carried her over to her side of the closet, the two of us browsing through it until I pulled out a mint green dress, which was one of Yukino's favorites. I put her back down and started switching out her pajamas.
"Alright, now it's time to do our hair," I told her, straightening up her dress.
"It's a good thing I'm here then!" Lucy shouted, bursting into the room happily. She pulled out her keys. "Cancer!"
"How would you like your hair today, ebi?" Cancer asked, appearing with a bell.
"No bangs, and you can have fun," I told him.
He pouted, but quickly sat me down and started snipping away.
I still do not understand how cutting can make my hair longer, but I know better than to question the powers of Celestial Spirits.
My hair ended up straight, for once, and he put in a silver headband that matched the color of my dress.
I smiled at myself in the mirror. Maybe I was imagining it, but I was starting to look a little older.
Maybe that'd mean my Magical Overload would finally go away.
Virgo had long since disguised my cuffs as bracelets, but even then…I hated the feel of them.
What I hated even more, though, was how I felt naked without them on.
"Yukino, do you want Cancer to play with your hair?" Lucy asked.
Yukino thought about it, but shook her head. I smiled and scooped her up, and Lucy said goodbye to Cancer. Yukino already had the same cut she would wear in the future, and I honestly thought it suited her more than long hair ever would.
"Alright, girls, lets head to the guild," I said, leading the way out of my house and into Magnolia.
Unsurprisingly, there was a stage.
I probably should have seen this coming, considering last year.
But all of the bands wanted to play.
And I was confused on how many bands there were.
First up was Cloudy Constellations.
No…not the ones you're thinking of. You see, when Lucy heard the name 'Cloudy Constellations', she told Erigor that she would fight him for the name.
He handed it over immediately.
So Lucy, Brandish and Cana all formed a band together, and would practice whenever they had finished taking a mission.
And that's what lead to the performance.
It was followed by Monsters in My Mind, which was the band that Erigor, Jellal, Freed, Bickslow and Laxus made, which was followed by Hailstorm, which was formed of Gray, Lyon, Ultear, and Juvia.
Nab, Jet, Droy and Wally made Between the Lines, and Levy, Kagura, Sho, Simon, Millianna and Erza formed Making Memories.
They would rotate their performances out.
Monsters in My Mind (Erigor, Jellal, Freed, Bickslow and Laxus) tended to do rock songs and certain alternatives. So generally, we heard everything from Queen to Panic! At the Disco from them.
Gray, Lyon, Ultear and Juvia tended to do some alternative that crossed over with Monsters in My Mind, but generally, Hailstorm performed some more soft-spoken alternative, like Onerepublic or Coldplay or Sleeping At Last.
Cloudy Constellations would play things by Of Monsters and Men or the Lumineers.
Between the Lines would end up doing songs from Bastille or Avicii.
Making Memories tended to do the most type of songs, probably because they rotated their singers the most, and they all liked singing different types of songs.
Apparently, Laxus had gotten ahold of my playlist, and played all of the songs, and everyone would listen to them while training. And if they heard one song they really liked, it would be 'theirs'.
Of course, it wasn't nearly that simple, because a lot of the time, everyone ended up fighting over the same songs.
So they generally thought it would be better to claim artists.
Though there was still plenty of battling over that.
I waited patiently, listening to everyone sing; each group did somewhere between three – five songs.
And, at the end, just like last time, everyone shuffled offstage, leaving only Laxus.
My heart warmed, thinking about how he was going to sing for me…again.
The only ones on stage other than Laxus was Freed, who began to play on the keyboard softly.
Laxus met my eyes, nervously, but he smiled and began to sing…I just couldn't believe he was singing this song.
"You are the wind in my…sail
You are the spring in my…step
You make me laugh, you make me…cry
And yoooou…make me forget..."
Then the Chorus picked up, and Laxus seemed much more comfortable.
"So tell me when you run; I wanna run with you,
Tell me where you hide; I wanna come to you,
Tell me where you go; I wanna go there, too.
Even if you fall, I will go down with you.
I will be the one who comes to rescue you.
Tell me where you go, 'cause I wanna be there too..."
"I hid my secrets in a…box.
I did exactly what you…said.
And now, I'm feeling so much better…
'Cause you…make me forget…"
And back to the chorus, and it was after this that really got me.
They changed the bridge.
They literally CHANGED THE WORDS TO THE BRIDGE.
"Bright as a bonfire…
And you make me a fighter…
And I'm brought out of the…darkness…
Bright as a bonfire…
And you make the world lighter…
And you make me…breathless…"
The world around me froze as I had a realization that hit me like a ton of bricks. I barely even heard the last verse…
"So tell me when you run; I wanna run with you
Tell me where you hide; I wanna come to you
Tell me where you go, 'cause I wanna go there, too…
Oh, even if you fall, I will go down with you
I will be the one who comes to rescue you
Tell me where you go, 'cause I wanna be there, too…"
I was in love with Laxus Dreyar.